Category Archives: Just Talking…

July 9, 2015.  Staying on the seventh floor of Chicago’s Water Tower Place Hilton, I found a printed note on the desk: We request that you do not open your windows in your suite during this time to avoid the … Continue reading →

June 27, 2015.  I just got back from a family vacation to the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park—a perfect example of the interconnections between nature and culture.  The park is at one and the same time a shrine to the … Continue reading →

June 30, 2015.  This is a blowfly on my milkweed plant in front of my house.  Culturally, we associate milkweed with the regal Monarch butterfly, whose story fascinates us:  the beautiful orange butterfly makes a heroic journey every fall, travelling … Continue reading →

May 29, 2015.  Reading in today’s Detroit News that the food industry—comprised in growing part of growers who deliver not just fruits and vegetables for which Michigan has always been famous—but also meats, salsas and sauces, pickles and breads, honey … Continue reading →

May 26, 2015. With some 110 people in the audience at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, we delivered our first readings from the just-printed book of essays, poems and collaborations Nature, Culture, and Two Friends Talking.  Part of the draw … Continue reading →

May 15, 2015.  After storms last night, a second wave of tropical birds dropped in on St. Paul.  Tailwinds from the southeast that came along with the low pressure system gave them the extra nudge that makes the journey less … Continue reading →

April 25, 2015.  The news last week that the last few northern African white rhinos depend on round-the-clock armed guards to prevent death by poaching, struck a nerve. It’s about time, but at the same time, it’s more of the … Continue reading →

April 24, 2015. Okay: so today, a solution. Build soil! We just dedicated a lovely statue on WSU’s campus. Artist Lynette Power has made a bronze tribute to Vic Ormsby, a lifelong advocate of soil conservation and the “Aldo Leopold” … Continue reading →

April 15, 2015. Driving to Northfield a couple weeks ago via the old Robert’s Trail—now MN Hwy 3—I cross a few small streams, one being the Vermillion River. I had studied this river—pushing that definition a bit, for in places … Continue reading →

April 3, 2015.  Tonight is a waxing gibbous moon.  The spring moon is for lovers, though an April moon is a bit chilly yet here in Minnesota.  Here is a moon poem: Just Ask Ask the moon if she means … Continue reading →